Now in a quandry! What to do???

Nickles1973

Nickles1973

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Long story but in a nutshell, my horse has been lame almost 3 weeks. Ever since the day after having new shoes. After 3 farrier visits and 1 visit and phone call from the vets I am poulticing and hot tubbing and hoping for the mother of all abcesses to appear even though farrier can find no sign of one. The last conversation with my farrier led to him suggesting that George may have fractured his pedal bone. So vets called again and agree to nerve block and xray after another couple of days poulticing.
Then this morning another vet was on the yard visiting another livery so I asked him for his opinion. This vet is quite old and has many many years of experience and is locally quite well respected. He watched me walk George up the yard and bareing in mind that as a tb with very flat feet he would be lame without a shoe on anyway he couldn't see that he was anywhere lame enough to be anything other than foot sore from over trimming. He was only lame on the turn not straight line. He suggested having the shoe put back on and turning him out and just waiting for him to come right. So do I accept the opinion of a wise old vet with years of experience and just wait it out for another week or jump in with new younger vet and go for the full lameness workup asap?? Old vet was adamant that he would not cause himself further injury by going out to play, and said the mud might actually help to cool his foot down. Sorry ended up longer than I'd hoped lol!
 
I wouldn't expect footiness from shoeing to be lasting 3 weeks tbh. It still may be an idea though to turn out and just see whether he is happy to move around or not.
 
Well if this is any help/consolation, there was a horse on our yard that was lame for around 3 weeks after the farrier had been (not my farrier by the way!), obvious it was nail bind as he was sore within a day after the farrier had been (no lameness issues prior to that or since as it happens), owner didn't have the shoe removed, nor did they cold tub the foot in freezing water on a daily basis (which helps to ease it) it took about 3 weeks for the horse to come right, ideally the shoe should of been removed straight away.

So your the other vet, could in theory be right, it would of made sense to have had the shoe removed from the start and treated as nail bind (just in case)if it was only apparent after the horse was shod and bobbed a equi-boot on if your horses foot was sore/flat footed (to cope with any rough/gritty ground) but obviously at the time you may of been under the impression it was an abscess so you were let up a different path on how to treat it.

But you can only do what you think is right, after all it could of been an abscess brewing up or it could just be something different altogether.

Good luck, hope it's sorted soon.
 
"Well if this is any help/consolation, there was a horse on our yard that was lame for around 3 weeks after the farrier had been (not my farrier by the way!), obvious it was nail bind as he was sore within a day after the farrier had been (no lameness issues prior to that or since as it happens), owner didn't have the shoe removed, nor did they cold tub the foot in freezing water on a daily basis (which helps to ease it) it took about 3 weeks for the horse to come right, ideally the shoe should of been removed straight away."

Kenzo that is very interesting as my horse was lame the very next day, and was deffinately sound before! He also came in from the very muddy field that night completely clean of mud except for his feet which indicates that he couldn't have been hooning around to have badly damaged himself (although I accept that is not impossible) My farrier did not remove this shoe on his first visit, just lowered the inside nails. And when he finally removed it yesterday he commented that the clenches were on "Very tight"
I'm certainly leaning towards following the old vets advice as I can't just disregard his point of view out of hand.
 
I would have expected the farrier to remove the shoe if he suspected nail bind or abcess aswell. This also would have let him know that the shoe was on too tight. Hoof boots are great in this situation as they allow the horse to keep being turned out (even with a poultice on).

Was he crippled lame?

I appreciate you are now in a difficult situation as the vets have mentioned the pedal bone, you have to go with your gut.

Hope he gets better soon :)
 
I'd go with the wise old vet, especially given that his scenario doesn't require drastic measures or drastic expenses. What have you got to lose in case the old vet's wrong? is it getting worse?
 
Hmmm well it does sound like it could be nail bind, although like someone else has mentioned even if it was an abscess the shoe should of been removed, I know my farrier also removes shoes if there is any heat or soreness in the foot, no matter what the problem is, if I think their could be a problem, he's straight down to remove it.

Is your horse still lame or at least showing the same degree of lamess? or is it very slowly easing off? if it's slowly easing then it could be nail bind or nail prick (depending on the condition of your horses feet, how often they are trimmed and where the nail was driven) and they can be dog lame with it too.

Cold tubbing with very cold icey water a couple of times a day will ease it, make sure your horse is up to date with his tet and make sure the foot is kept clean, antiseptic foot bath should be done along with keeping the foot clean if you ever suspect nailbind/prick and the shoe removed asap. :)
 
Thanks for all the advice! I'm going to run this by my farrier tomorrow (I still hold his opinion in high regard in spite of my concerns over this issue) and if he is ok with putting the shoe back on then I'm gonna give turn out for a few days a go. As far as I can tell he is no more lame than before and deffo no worse but I am prepared to call my other vet's in next week if there is no improvement by Sunday.
 
wise old vet. My horse was once shod by a different farrier (used by all others on yard) as ours was unable to come due to injury. He was lame for 6weeks from having his foot trimmed too much by the farrier(after all suggestions under the sun of what it may be). he is TB x and is very sensitive in his feet, he was left to grow his feet out and was fine, must say since then only ever used our farrier and he is fine just his feet have to be done in a particular way. So definately listen to the old wise vet.
 
I think I have said before on your previous thread how a few years ago I was in the same position and it went on for 5 weeks!!!! Mine was barely lame but just when turning. I think we did eventually find the abscess but it took a fair few farrier visits and the vet. Mine often can suffer sore feet after shoeing though so i was pretty sure it was this - although i think we suspected a shoulder problem at one point!!

I would probably turn the horse out. Chat with your faarrier first and see if he is happy to put the shoe back on. Otherwise turn out barefoot? If moving about this may well help shift an abscess to a bursting point anyway. I have never box rested any of ours when it has been an abscess. I think it's unlikely (although not impossible) that it is a fractured pedal bone but the fact the lameness occurred just after shoeing would indicate pretty strongly it is a shoeing-related issue.

I am sure you will resolve it eventually - they are a royal pain in the a*se though!!!
 
Same as everyone else - go with the wise old vet unless you have a very good reason to think his judgement is flawed. Although it is a while to be sore, overtrimming can be a bugger, especially when it comes to horses with sensitive feet!! But at the end of the day, you need to go with who/what you feel happy with. Good luck!
 
End of last season my horse went lame the day after being shod. Got farrier out, he said it wasn't nailbind and didn't remove shoe. Decided to turn the horse out, continued lame. Removed shoe and horse started to come sound again. My horse also has very sensitive feet, and really feels it if he is overtrimmed or the nail is a touch deep. Go with the old vet, he has probably seen it all before!
 
Well my farrier wasn't keen on putting the shoe back on and as u'd expect stood by his work. And just to thicken the plot further I decided just to have a quick look at how by boy moved in the school without his shoe on. He was very footy as I'd expect barefoot on the walk to the school but on the lunge he actually looked much better???? A friend watched and she couldn't see much wrong with him. I thought he was still taking the odd lame step but I'm more critical, and am more used to how he moves obviously.
So I am covering all bases, I tubbed and poulticed his foot again then squeezed it into an easyboot and turned him out. I will bring him in later (hopefully with the easyboot still in place) tub and poultice again. Farrier is coming back on Friday so I'm keeping everything crossed for a result.
 
I have a tb that really does have the worst feet. Very thin soles, flat feet, goes literally hoping lame within a couple of hours of loosing a shoe.
Last year I had a terrible time with him being lame on and off, then having what was the mother of an abscess. Well, 4 abscess's to be honest, the last one took 14days to fully drain.
I got xrays done during this process, and all was well, but if I was going through it with another horse, I would get the xrays done sooner for my own peace of mind.
At least you will know for sure if its an abscess/ pedal bone injury.
It might be good for your farrier to see xrays on the foot as well, incase he is a hard horse to shoe?
Kx
 
If its an abcess brewing or laminitis then you will find a throbbing pulse around the fetlock which is a result of congestion in the foot. An abcess can also cause intermittent lameness but eventually the horse is likely to be extremely lame. If there is any doubt there's a fracture that complicates things but doesn't sound like it.
 
Thanks again for all these helpful replies, it really does help to know of other people's experiences. I tried tubbing george's hoof again today, but he's decided he's had enough. Even with my yo's help I just couldn't get him to stand with his foot in the water. And after the 4th attempt and me being his hin the face with a full skip of salty water I gave in and just poulticed his foot and put the easy boot on. I then trotted him up on the yard. He looked sound! So I lunged him in the school. And with a bit of assistance from the wind he looked fine. If I'd watched him lunge like this 3 weeks ago I would have no complaints. My yo watched and she thought she could see him stutter a little on downwards transitions, but I have often thought he struggles with them anyway. Other than that she said he looked fine on both reins so I have turned him out with his lady friend. I will speak to my farrier tomorrow morning and update him and then see what next steps to take from there. I know better by now to be too excited that he might actually be better.
 
Id be a bit between the two tbh. Call your vet out to JUST put a foot block in to be 100% sure it is foor related. Once sure and if it is low level lameness then Id be tempted to give him time as the old vet suggested. In the field if hes not the sort to gallop about otherwise box rest with controlled exercise (mainly to keep him sane). has your horse responded to hoof testers at all? had a digital pulse? is it definitely definitely foot? That is what I would want to know before putting him out in the field and giving time.
 
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